Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Mr. Haircut is back

We have a new ritual. Every year, since last, Aldo the Elder becomes Mr. Haircut. This lasts one week from his summer sheering. It is so startling, I'm sure for him too, to see him go from heavy, burdensome fiber dripping off his limbs and back, to a sheered bunny coat, that I can't help but call him "Mr. Haircut" for a short period until we all adjust. I give a horrible haircut, choppy and rough, but the end result is the same as a good sheer-comfort for the beast.

"Perhaps a professional barber would be appropriate," he suggests politely.

Considering I haven't invested in sheering clippers yet, perhaps he's right. But I enjoy it actually. And any kind of grooming with the animals is also trust building. Last year it took forever to give Aldo, er, Mr. Haircut his sheer due to my inexperience. You learn to let the wool lift off the skin, and take your scissor under it, cutting, in large pieces–versus just little snips. He didn't sit down once, and it was only toward the end where he threatened a cow kick as I tried to work on the final lower hind leg.

"Suit yourself, you can keep those too wool lumps by your ankle," I said.

I also was amused at the many natural items I found within his wool coat as I clipped away–acorns, long stems and a pebble.

"Your like a walking suitcase," I told him.

I'm behind on the sheering and I apologized to him for that. The two week heat wave has me behind on many things as I am incapable of working outside in it. My redhead skin just boils and I get physically ill. So I finally am getting caught up with the llamas and now have to do Wendell, who used to be Ollie Ollie Oxen Free but he is now Wendell. He just wasn't an Ollie Ollie. He actually reminds me a lot of Gomez or Cousin It. Anyway, he is next and his beautiful black tresses will become part of some of my raggedy creature dolls.

You must gain permission to re-use any images, words or photos from this site. You can use the 'share' feature to show an entire link, but you can't take my images/words and use them without permission or negotiation.